University response to Spotlight PA story

Today, a media outlet called Spotlight PA published a long story focused on ethics and compliance at Penn State during the last 10 years. Penn State does not believe the report provides an accurate account of the efforts made by the University to build our ethics and compliance program during that time.

The Spotlight PA story leads readers by stringing together a narrative based on a number of individual and unrelated incidents and unsubstantiated accusations. As we shared with the story’s authors, the University will not comment on individual personnel or hotline matters because of the importance of protecting confidentiality around each individual case, even when the details are misreported.

Every one of the leaders charged with guiding the University understands that maintaining the most responsive and effective ethics and compliance program as we can is critical to the integrity and safety of the campus community.

With the hiring of our current chief ethics and compliance officer, we have begun the process of restructuring all the University’s ethics and compliance systems to create the strongest and most collaborative system possible to support our community. Most notably, this includes the creation of a comprehensive case management system that tracks all reports across the various departments responsible for upholding the University’s commitment to its community. 

Penn State made wholesale changes during the last decade in the ways it operates to protect its campus community, and the results include some very effective initiatives, some lessons learned, and a recognition that there is always more to do. New policies and new protocols have been put into place and new people have been brought on board to provide needed and effective oversight. Under new leadership — in the Office of the President and in the Office of Ethics and Compliance — Penn State’s commitment to providing a safe, fair, and supportive campus community is stronger than ever, including efforts to be more responsive and provide students, faculty, and staff with the resources they need to report incidents anonymously.

Last Updated July 19, 2023